Apparatus for distilling oils



April 26, 1932. H. H. MORETON 1,855,685

APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING OILS Filed Oct. 8. 1928 2. Sheets-Sheet l www A April 26, 1932. H8 Hf MORETON 1,855,685

APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING OILS Filed 061.18, 1928 2 sheets-shew 2 MH V1 IN1 r1 V1 V1 y u jgfdl- LZ-L U.

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Patented Apr. 26, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT* OFFICE".

HENRY H. MoRE'roN, or sANrA'MoNICA, CALIFORNIA, AssrGNoR or oNE-rIrInnv'ro o. B. ENGLISCH, or CHICAGO, rLLrNoIs, AND ONE-THIRD rro CHARLES r. CRAIG, or

Los ANGELES,7 CALIFORNIA APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING OILS Application led October 8, 1928.

This invention is an apparatus forrtreating oils to remove impurities suspended therein.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a simple and practical apparatus, by means of which such contaminated oils as used crank case oils, cylinder oils, andthe like, as well as new oils which contain suspended impurities may be treated so as to effectuallyremove the suspended matter. A further obj ect is to provide simple means for sotreating the oil that impurities carried thereby, and which normally cannot be separated from the oil except by complete distillation, will be effectually acted upon and precipitated, so that they may be readily re moved from the oil by any well known method of separation, such for instance as filtration. A further object is to provide simple means for removing gasoline, aqueous moisture, or other similar volatile constituents wihch may have been taken up by the oil while in use, or during previous treatments, such as the so-called acid treatment.

The invention willbe hereinafter fully set forth and particularly pointed out in the claims. y

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation diagrammatically illustrating an apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention, parts being shown in section. Figure 2 is yan enlarged view illustrating the volatilizer. Figure 3 is a sectional view illustrating the mixer.

Referring to the drawings, 10 designates a storage tank, and 11 a gravity supply tank.

The said tank 10 may be located at any con- Y venient position, and as shown is mounted upon a suitable supporting frame-work 12. The outlet from the tank 10 consists of a pipe 13 and the inlet for the tank 11 Consists of a pipe 14 which delivers into the top of the last mentioned tank. Said pipes 13 and 14 are connected by a suitable impelling device,

such as an electrically driven pump conventionally illustrated at 15.

The still unit or vaporizer V consists of a plurality of spaced apart vertically disposed chambers 16 of angular cross section and ar- SeIial No. 311,248.

bers at one end of the group may be-of` smaller diameter than those at the other end of the group. The bottom or lower end of each unit 16 is provided with a removable plugl 17 to permit access to the interior of the unit'. Leading from the top of each unit is a pipe or vent iue 18, which is removably secured to the unit in suitable manner as by means of a threaded and collar connection indicated at 19. The outlet of the tank 114 is connected by means of a pipe 20 with the lower portion of the first unit 16 of the group, said pipe Vbeing preferably looped around the ventpipes or stacks 18 as indicated at 201 so that the oil will receive a preliminary heat treatment before it reaches the first unit 16. It will be noted that the units are alternately connected at the upper and lower ends, nipples or other pipe connections indicated at 21 and 22 respectively. The last unit of the group is provided with a discharge pfipe 23 leading from the upper portion thereof. f In practice, a battery of units -is normally enclosed in a suitable lcasing as shown in Figure 1. l y

Any desired number of the units 16 may be employed and arranged in any preferred number of groups, the number shown in the drawings having been selected solely for the purpose of illustration and without desire to limit the invention. Said units are heated in any desirable manner, for instance, by means of a gas burner 24 located below the units,

and supplied in suitable manner from a' source of gas supply indicated at 25.

The vent stacks 18 of the unit 16 may open directly to the atmosphere, but it is preferred to deliver them into a conduit 27, provided with a suction device 28 designed to propel the vapors to any desired storage receptacle, y

ing 30. The funnel 31 serves to direct the oil leaving the vaporizer V into a mixer M which may be of any desired construction. For purposes of illustration, said mixer is shown as consisting of a chamber 35, in which is rotatably mounted a longitudinally disposed shaft provided with agitator blades 36, and operated from any suitable source of power, such as a'pulley. 37. The Voil is delivered from the funnel 31 into the mixer through a hopper 38.

The mixer is also provided-with a second hopper 39 leading to the interior thereof, for the purpose of introducing the material which is used for clarifying and treating the oil. This material is in powdered form and may be -supplied to the hopper 39 in any de siredmanner, a bucket conveyor 40 being conventionally illustrated for this purpose. It is to be understood, however, that the material may be deposited in the hopper 39 manually, or by r`any other known means. lFrom the mixer M the oil and the clarifying agent, which havebeen very intimately intermixed as they pass through the mixer, are drawn from a Kdelivery vpipe 41 into an agitator chamber 42, provided with a stirrer or agitator of any desired construction, which is carried by a shaft 43 driven by a shaft 44 through intermeshing gears 45 and 46. It is preferred to heat the chamber in suitable manner, a steam jacket 47 being shown for purposes of illustration. The steam supply and discharge pipes are shown at 48 and 49 respectively. The agitator chamber is provided with a suitable clean-up plug indicated at 50. Y

From the agitator the treated oil is carried `off through a discharge pipe 51 to a suitable separating apparatus V52, a pump 53 serving to impart positive movement to the oil. The

separating device may be of any desired construction but for purposes of illustration a standard type filter press 52 is conventionally indicated. y

' In operation, the supply of oil to be treated is drawn from the tank 10 and placed in the tank 11, and when the desired quantity has Ybeen suppliedto the last mentioned tank, the oil is permitted to flow through the pipe 20 by opening the stop cock which normally prevents this flow. It will be noted that heat 'from the burner 24 will pass upwardly,

around and between the units 16 and hea them to a relatively high temperature. In

fact the vent pipes 8 become quite hot under Vthe influence of the burner. The oil flowing through pipe 20 and around the loop 20a`re- Teo ' ceives a preliminary heating by reason of the heat radiated from the vent flues 18, and as it "passes through the units 16 it is gradually heated until at the delivery point 31, it Vruns from approximately 350 to 400 F. By

I es

reason of the heat thus developed any gasoline vapors or other volatile hydrocarbon va- 11 is by gravity, and the flow from unit to unit is through the connections 21 and-22 the units 18 must be extended a substantial height above the upper ends of said units because the flow from one unit to another is not fast enough to prevent a certain amount of backing-up of vthe oil into the vent flues 18.

As the oil is supplied to the mixer M, the conveyor 40 is also put in operation, and by means thereof calcium sulphate is discharged through the hopper 39 into the mixer M. rlhe agitator blades 36 eect a thorough and intimate mixing of the oil andthe calcium sulphate as they pass through the mixer, so that by the time they are discharged into the agitator 42, the calcium sulphate has been uniformly' distributed throughout the oil. After being deposited into the agitator 42 the mass of oil and calcium sulphate is agitated and heated, -so as to enhance and increase the action of the calcium sulphatewhich has the effect of attracting the mechanically suspended impurities and carrying them down as a precipitate. The mass must therefore be continuously agitated to avoid too early separation, and heated to quicken the attraction of the suspended particles lfor the calcium sulphate and for each other.

i rlhe pump 53 serves to transfer the mixed oil and calcium sulphate to the lter press before any substantial separation canV take place, and then the impurities, which have taken a form of small masses of suflicient di- -mensions to be readily visible tothe naked Vwhich are normally suspended in used crank case oil, or wether they are gummy substances which are often suspended 1n oil andnot Yreadily detectible, or whether they include the burned particles of oil resulting from at- "tempts to bleach by the use of sulphuric acid. The `fine articles cannot ordinarily be removed except by complete distillation, are eifectually removed by the apparatus described. The oil treated by the apparatus above described is not only highly purified,

but its lubricating properties are in no lway impaired. In fact, experience has proved that its viscosity and lubricating properties are greatly enhanced by the treatment.

The calcium sulphate is preferably in the form of plaster of Paris or gypsum, but the invention is not limited in this particular beiso cause other calcareous cements may be employed in lieu thereof, such as natural cement, Portland cement, and the like. Therefore, Wherever the term calcium sulphate-7 is used Vin this specification and the appended claims, it is to be understood that the above mentioned substances are to be considered as equivalents and Within the spirit of the invention.

Wrhile it is impossible to definitely state Whether the action of the calcium sulphate is a chemical one or a physical one, or both, the fact is that When this substance is brought into contact With oil, it appears to attract the mechanically suspended impurities carried by the oil and to precipitate them instantly. And during the precipitation, finer particles, Which ordinarily Would not be visible to the naked eye appear to be attracted to each other, so that they form minute masses which are coarse enough, however, to be readily separated by filtration. It has also been found that calcium sulphate will also bleach oil which has been subjected to what is known as the acid treatment.

IThe advantages of the invention Will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art of purifying oils. It Will be particularly noted that a very simple and inexpensive apparatus is provided, by means of which the volatile constituents are readily removed without subjecting the oil to What is usually understood as the distillation process. A further advantage is that the mechanical impurities are treated in a convenient and effective vvay to permit of their ready and complete removal from the oil. It Will be noted that the vaporizer is not only eifective in the treatment of the oil, as an adjunct of the complete apparatus disclosed herein, but it may be also used for separation of hydrocarbon vapors of different specific gravities.

I-Iaving thus explained the nature of the invention and described an operative manner of constructing and using the same, although vvithout attempting to set forth all of the forms in Which it may be made, or all of the forms of its use, what is claimed is l. In an oil purifying apparatus, a vaporizing unit comprising a plurality of vertically disposed vaporizing chambers, each provided With a vertically disposed vent flue leading from the top thereof, said fluesbeing of less diameter than the chambers, pipes connecting the consecutive chambers alternately at the top and bottom, means-for heating said chambers, a collecting flue into which the vent iiues discharge, and a suction device or removing vapors from said collecting 2. In an oil purifying apparatus, a vaporizing unit comprising a plurality of vertically disposed vaporizing chambers, each provided With a vertically disposed vent flue leading from the top thereof, said flues being of less diameter than the chambers, pipes connecting Athe consecutive chambers alternately at the top and bottom, means for heating said chambers, a collecting flue into Which the vent flues discharge, an oil separator in said collecting iue, a suction device for removingvapors Which pass said separator,

- and means for carrying oif condensates Which are removed from the vapors by said separator.

3. In an oil purifying apparatus, a vaporizingunit consisting of a plurality of vertically disposed vaporizing chambers, veach provided With a vertically disposed vent Hue leading from the top thereof, said flues being of less diameters than the chambers, pipes connecting the consecutive chambers alternately at the top and bottom, said flues being extended a substantial height above the vaporizing chambers so as to prevent backing up of the oil into the vent i'iues, means for heating said chamber, an oil feed pipe connected with one of said chambers, said pipes having a loop extended around the flues so that the oil may be preheated, and a collection flue into which the vent flues discharge.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

HENRY I-I. MORETON. 

